Ingram Micro Adds Marketing Assistance For Cloud Partners

Entitled "Seeding the Cloud," the new offering provides a structure through which partners can secure marketing dollars through either the distributor or participating vendors.

"The amount of money is decided on a case-by-case basis, based on the marketing plan that the partner would like to pursue," said Renee Bergeron, Ingram Micro's vice president of managed services and cloud computing. "But we do have a structure and a set of templates in place that weighs how those resources will be used."

[Related: Ingram Micro's Cloud Summit: A How-To For Business Transformation ]

Targeted marketing projects include webinars and channel events such as lunch-and-learns. However a variety of other projects are also on the table.

"There is no lock-in requirement through which participating partners are forced to run deals through Ingram Micro," added Bergeron. "But we do a lot to help our partners move their cloud strategies forward, plus we are working with the offerings of 170 vendors, so clearly we have a good case to be their one-stop shop for cloud-based services."

After funds are delivered, The Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor's team follows up with the partners to ensure that funding recipients execute the project, as planned.

"We're very enthusiastic about the program, and we've been getting a lot of highly positive feedback from the partners," added Jason Bystrak, director of cloud and managed services for Ingram Micro. "We've been piloting it for the last three to five months, and we can already see that it's going to be very successful."

Among the enthusiastic partners is a Missisauga, Ontario-based reseller that has not yet used the program but is already beginning to develop plans for a proposal. "This demonstrates their commitment to the channel, as well as their commitment to cloud computing," said Daniel Cheng, president of AMA, the Canadian-based channel partner. "This is all about shared risks and shared rewards. I'm already getting ideas for targeted lead generation initiatives, including webinars and events, and also for telemarketing and email initiatives."

The Ingram Micro Cloud Conference is under way this week in Phoenix, Ariz.

PUBLISHED APRIL 9, 2013